1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to new crystalline compounds containing pterostilbene, more particularly, the invention relates to pterostilbene cocrystals, therapeutic uses of those pterostilbene cocrystals, and pharmaceutical/nutraceutical compositions containing them.
2. Description of Related Art
Pterostilbene (trans-3,5-dimethoxy-4′-hydroxystilbene) is a naturally occurring stilbenoid compound, and a non-ionizable methylated structural analog of resveratrol. The chemical structures of pterostilbene and resveratrol are:

Pterostilbene has been characterized as a nutraceutical, being found in nature in a number of tree barks and a variety of berries, including grapes, as well as plants commonly used in traditional folk medicine. Both resveratrol and pterostilbene have been reported to exhibit a range of biological activities including anti-cancer, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and other potential health benefits. A number of in vitro and in vivo studies of pterostilbene have been conducted in which it demonstrated cytotoxic activity against cancer cell lines in vitro and decreased plasma glucose levels by 42% in hyperglycemic rats (comparable to the commercially available drug, metformin, which reduces glucose levels by 48%). Additionally, the LDL/HDL cholesterol ratio was significantly lowered in hypercholesterolemic hamsters that were fed 25 ppm pterostilbene in their diet compared to the control animals. The use of pterostilbene to ameliorate oxidative stress and improve working memory and compositions containing pterostilbene are described in published U.S. application 2009/0069444, which is incorporated herein by reference. Significant interest in pterostilbene has therefore been generated in recent years due to its perceived health benefits, leading to increased consumption of foods that contain the compound, such as grapes and berries.
A number of pharmacological studies have been conducted on pterostilbene; but, very little investigation on the behavior of pterostilbene in the solid state has appeared in the open literature, and thus its solid-state properties appear not to have been thoroughly studied to date.
Pterostilbene has been noted to have poor solubility in water, making it difficult to incorporate in food extracts or supplements (Lopez-Nicolas, J. M.; Rodriguez-Bonilla, P.; Mendez-Cazorla, L.; Garcia-Carmona, F., Physicochemical Study of the Complexation of Pterostilbene by Natural and Modified Cyclodextrins. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry 2009, 57, (12), 5294-5300.). In addition, pterostilbene exhibits poor bioavailability and is easily oxidized by various enzymes (Pezet, R., Purification and characterization of a 32-kDa laccase-like stilbene oxidase produced by Botrytis cinerea. FEMS Micobiology Letters 1998, 167, 203-208 and Breuil, A. C.; Jeandet, P.; Adrian, M.; Chopin, F.; Pirio, N.; Meunier, P.; Bessis, R., Characterization of a pterostilbene dehydrodimer produced by laccase of Botrytis cinerea. Phytopathology 1999, 89, (298-302).). The melting point has been reported as 82° C. (Mallavadhani, U. V.; Sahu, G., Pterostilbene: A Highly Reliable Quality-Control Marker for the Ayurvedic Antidiabetic Plant ‘Bijasar’. Chromatographia 2003, 58, 307-312.) Efforts to improve the solubility of pterostilbene have focused on formulation approaches such as by using cyclodextrins (Lopez-Nicolas 2009).
Polymorphic forms of pterostilbene have recently been reported. Five polymorphs of pterostilbene are disclosed in PCT/US2010/22285, filed Jan. 27, 2010, which is incorporated herein by reference.
Due to the development of the drug discovery strategy over the last 20 years, physicochemical properties of drug development candidates have changed significantly. The term “drug” as used herein is also meant to include nutraceuticals and active nutraceutical ingredients, even though nutraceuticals are not subject to regulatory trials and approval. The development candidates are generally more lipophilic and less water soluble, which creates huge problems for the industry. Research has shown that some drug candidates fail in the clinical phase due to poor human bioavailability and/or problems with their formulation. Traditional methods to address these problems, without completely redesigning the molecule, include salt selection, producing amorphous material, particle size reduction, prodrugs, and different formulation approaches.
Although therapeutic or clinical efficacy is the primary concern for a drug (or an active nutraceutical ingredient), the salt and solid-state form (i.e., the crystalline or amorphous form) of a drug candidate can be critical to its pharmacological properties and to its development as a viable drug. Crystalline forms of drugs have been used to alter the physicochemical properties of a particular drug. Each crystalline form of a drug candidate can have different solid-state (physical and chemical) properties which may be relevant for drug delivery. Crystalline forms often have better chemical and physical properties than corresponding non-crystalline forms such as the amorphous form. The differences in physical properties exhibited by a novel solid form of a drug (such as a cocrystal or polymorph of the original drug) affect pharmaceutical parameters such as storage stability, compressibility and density (relevant for formulation and product manufacturing), and dissolution rates and solubility (relevant factors in achieving suitable bioavailability).
Dissolution rates of an active ingredient in vivo (e.g., gastric or intestinal fluid) may have therapeutic consequences since it affects the rate at which an orally administered active ingredient may reach the patient's bloodstream. In addition, solubility, a thermodynamic quantity, is a relevant property in evaluating drug delivery because a poorly soluble crystalline form of a drug will deliver less drug than a more soluble one in the same formulation.
Because these practical physical properties are influenced by the solid-state properties of the crystalline form of the drug, they can significantly impact the selection of a compound as a drug, the ultimate pharmaceutical dosage form, the optimization of manufacturing processes, and absorption in the body. Moreover, finding the most adequate solid state form for further drug development can reduce the time and the cost of that development.
Obtaining suitable crystalline forms of a drug is a necessary stage for many orally available drugs. Suitable crystalline forms possess the desired properties of a particular drug. Such suitable crystalline forms may be obtained by forming a cocrystal between the drug and a coformer. Cocrystals often possess more favorable pharmaceutical and pharmacological properties or may be easier to process than known forms of the drug itself. For example, a cocrystal may have different dissolution and solubility properties than the drug. Further, cocrystals may be used as a convenient vehicle for drug delivery, and new drug formulations comprising cocrystals of a given drug may have superior properties, such as solubility, dissolution, hygroscopicity, and storage stability over existing formulations of the drug.
To the best of the joint inventors' knowledge, no cocrystals of pterostilbene have been reported in the open/academic or patent literature. In fact, the field of nutraceutical cocrystals appears to be a relatively unexplored landscape.
A cocrystal of a drug (an active nutraceutical ingredient or an active pharmaceutical ingredient) is a distinct chemical composition between the drug and coformer, and generally possesses distinct crystallographic and spectroscopic properties when compared to those of the drug and coformer individually. Unlike salts, which possess a neutral net charge, but which are comprised of charge-balanced components, cocrystals are comprised of neutral species. Thus, unlike a salt, one cannot determine the stoichiometry of a cocrystal based on charge balance. Indeed, one can often obtain cocrystals having stoichiometric ratios of drug to coformer of greater than or less than 1:1. The stoichiometric ratio of an API to coformer is a generally unpredictable feature of a cocrystal.
Without limiting the present invention to any particular definitional construct because others may define the term differently, the term “cocrystals” may be thought of as multi-component crystals composed of neutral molecules. These multi-component assemblies are continuing to excite and find usefulness, particularly within the pharmaceutical arena, for their ability to alter physicochemical properties. More specifically, cocrystals have been reported to alter aqueous solubility and/or dissolution rates, increase stability with respect to relative humidity, and improve bioavailability of active pharmaceutical ingredients.
A necessary consideration when designing cocrystals, if the end goal is a potential marketed drug-product, is incorporating a suitable cocrystal former (coformer) with an acceptable toxicity profile. Within the pharmaceutical industry, coformers are typically selected from the same list of pharmaceutically accepted salt formers, generally regarded as safe (GRAS) and/or everything added to food in the United States (EAFUS) lists, due to previous occurrence of these molecules in FDA approved drug or food products. An additional group of molecules to be considered as possible coformers are the naturally occurring compounds, nutraceuticals.
A nutraceutical (portmanteau of nutrition and pharmaceutical) compound is defined as, “a food (or part of a food) that provides medical or health benefits, including the prevention and/or treatment of a disease and possesses a physiological benefit or reduces the risk of chronic disease”. Utilizing naturally occurring compounds as coformers gives extension to the list of potential molecules accessible to the pharmaceutical industry and provides additional physiological benefits to the consumer.
In some circumstances, such as with cocrystals of carboxylic acids, the coformer is generally viewed as the acid moiety whereas the compound whose therapeutic properties are of interest is viewed as the drug, as in the case of the pterostilbene:glutaric acid cocrystal. In other circumstances, more than one component may be viewed as the drug. In the case of the pterostilbene cocrystals reported herein, one may view pterostilbene as acting as a drug and carbamazepine as a coformer or the reverse. Likewise, one may view the pterostilbene in the pterostilbene:caffeine cocrystal as a drug and the caffeine as a coformer or the reverse. However, regardless of what label is used for a particular component, the cocrystal structure is not altered. For purposes of the invention reported herein, pterostilbene is viewed as the drug whereas the second component of each of the cocrystals is viewed as the coformer.
In a cocrystal, the drug and the coformers each possess unique lattice positions within the unit cell of the crystal lattice. Crystallographic and spectroscopic properties of cocrystals can be analyzed as with other crystalline forms such as with X-ray powder diffraction (XRPD), single crystal X-ray crystallography, and solid state NMR, among other techniques. Cocrystals often also exhibit distinct thermal behavior compared with other forms of the corresponding drug. Thermal behavior may be analyzed by such techniques as capillary melting point, thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) to name a few. These techniques can be used to identify and characterize the cocrystals.